Overall, I wouldn't say it's thin, at least in terms of texture. The taste profile is rather simple/one dimensional. For some reason, I keep thinking of a very mellowed out guricha. *need to try again before giving a rating.

Still waiting I'm trying hard not to read what you guys are saying about the teas as I'd like to go into each tasting without bias. Regardless, I'm glad this has been a very active OTTI already! Ah well, hopefully the samples will arrive this weekend.

Stentor wrote:Still waiting I'm trying hard not to read what you guys are saying about the teas as I'd like to go into each tasting without bias. Regardless, I'm glad this has been a very active OTTI already! Ah well, hopefully the samples will arrive this weekend.

So far I've tried 1, 2, 4, & 5. I brewed 1 & 2 in my SplitFire pottery kyusu that is about 8 oz, but probably used about 7 oz of water. Sample 1 (Ten) was mild, but fragrant. I thought it was a pleasant tea. #2 (organic ume) was smooth and vegetal tasting with a nice butter and savory scent.

I brewed 4 (organic matsu) and 5 (yutaka midori) (5 grams) in a 4oz Banko pot at 140 -145 degrees. These turned out too bitter for me, especially as the tea cooled down further. I've had Yutaka Midori from another OTTI that I loved & brewed it the same ratio of tea to water except I brewed it at probably 160-165 degrees and in a glass kysusu. Not sure if I need higher temps, or more water. I think I have a fairly high tolerance for bitterness, but these two samples (especially 5) had me throwing out the tea in my cup because I couldn't finish it. I'm going to have to try these teas again in a larger pot & perhaps with hotter water to see if I like them better. Do you think it could be the Banko? I thought Banko was supposed to smooth out the tea.

Second infusion is slightly more biting( astringent), but has a very nice flavor, and I can't quite place it but it reminds me of a candy almost. Not in a sweet sense, but some sort of slightly sour candy.

Agree with Adam on 3. I also thought 3 was sweeter than 4, which I suspected to be pure Yabukita. Decided to unblind myself, and turned out the only two that I really didn't like (2 & 4) were both pure Yabukita. Not surprised since I've yet had a pure Yabukita I liked. 4 is now be the most expensive and highest end pure Yabukita I've tasted thus far. *wonders if I'll ever like pure yabukita....somewhat strange? (Hmmm...never tried kirameki or AOI).

I used around half the sample in a 4oz kyusu, for the Ume I used water around 65 and for the Matsu a little higher, around 75. Next time I brew the ume I'll be using hotter water.

The ume I found light and refreshing but a little lacking in depth. I prefer my sencha with a little more bite, or a little more broth. It was still very pleasant after 6 brews with a few minutes in boiling water. Not a tea that commands attention but this is the sort of tea I could happily drink litres of whilst working around the house.

The Matsu was more interesting, a much fuller flavour than the ume although in contrast to the ume the flavour tailed off quicker. I've only had a few other organic sencha but I think this may be favourite so far, whilst I felt I was drinking the Ume, I was savouring this stuff.

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Last edited by Proinsias on Apr 18th, '12, 18:36, edited 2 times in total.

Had #1 yesterday and today. I used both times 5 gr. in 150 ml. (5 oz.).

Yesterday my temperatures went from 68 degrees C up and today from 60 degrees C up. Lower temperatures tasted better to me (this could be due to sae midori part in it).

This is what I got as "optimal" in two attempts:1. 60 deg. C for 80 sec.2. 64 deg. C for 20 sec.3. 69 deg. C for 50 sec.4. 75 deg. C for 90 sec.

Brownish-green leaves, clear yellow liquid (no sign of mourky, soup-like infusions). The taste was not close to my beloved YM, and I could hardly feel sae midori part in it, but it was drinkable. I couldn't detect any sign of chestnut (which I connect with sencha), instead I smelled something like camomille flowers. Toasty, sweet, simple, umami hardly felt, little astringency. Didn't notice much difference in taste through steepings. First was the most intense, then taste faded (but forth was still ok).

This is what I got as "optimal" in two attempts:1. 65 deg. C for 70 sec.2. 69 deg. C for 15 sec.3. 73 deg. C for 50 sec.4. 77 deg. C for 90 sec.

Color of infusions was mostly yellow, with little green comming through. Compared to #1 this tea had much nicer taste, which kind of evolved from steeping to steeping. Nothing special really (like "in your face" ummami full 2010 YM from o-cha), but very pleasant. Both first and second steeping were pleasure to drink - first more sweet, with some umami and second more grassy. I had to watch out though for the times, because 25 seconds of second steeping gave me just too much bitterness for my senses. Third and fourth steeping were slowly thinning, but never felt like drinking hot water. On some occasions I detected strange taste (maybe as something beeing burnt).

I tried #3 (Fuku) today and due to my problems with brewing 4 & 5, I used about 7 oz water in a glazed kyusu & 5 grams of the tea with water temp about 150F for 1st infusion & slightly hotter thereafter. This seemed to work well for me - I liked this sencha. I didn't write down my taste impressions, but I thought is was nicely balanced, some astringency in the third steep. The taste is still good, so I'm going for a 4th steep. For the second half of the sample, I'm going to try using about 5-6 oz water & see how that tastes. For now, I would rate this as a 4.

Strange tea, it has fuka in name, but is chumushi. First brew was kind of weak, clear yellow, but nice to drink. Second brew was thick soup (like fukamushi), full of umami - and I would like this brew the best, if it wasn't for strange part of taste that bothered me. At first I described it as something burnt, after a while, I found out it was really something sour and bitter (I think this are pesticides coming out - I felt this even in my stomach). This taste stayed in steepings that followed. Nice steepings with full "body", but couldn't enyoj it because of sourness.

Overall - 4 (it would be great tea, if this sourness could be controled in some way)